Our new Indie Games subforum is now open for business in G&T. Go and check it out, you might land a code for a free game. If you're developing an indie game and want to post about it, follow these directions. If you don't, he'll break your legs! Hahaha! Seriously though.

Our rules have been updated and given their own forum. Go and look at them! They are nice, and there may be new ones that you didn't know about! Hooray for rules! Hooray for The System! Hooray for Conforming!

Rare turns 25, celebrates by switching logos

Posts

Now that we've brought up Blast Corps, can Rare just drop it on 360 arcade? They've already done a few n64 games, but I don't know if they have carte blanche to do it with anything that isn't a nintendo property.

Also, I would spend cash money to not get my n64 from my parents attic and have yet another box under the tv in my place.

Sadly, they can't bring over the original Blast Corps, because it was published by Nintendo. At least, that's my understanding.

Now that we've brought up Blast Corps, can Rare just drop it on 360 arcade? They've already done a few n64 games, but I don't know if they have carte blanche to do it with anything that isn't a nintendo property.

Also, I would spend cash money to not get my n64 from my parents attic and have yet another box under the tv in my place.

Sadly, they can't bring over the original Blast Corps, because it was published by Nintendo. At least, that's my understanding.

They could make a new one though, which they really should.

This is me, hoping your understanding is so, so wrong.

Beat me on Wii U: Raybies
Beat me on 360: Raybies666

I remember when I had time to be good at games.

0·

UnbreakableVowWe know we weren't the first ones here.Our stories speak of ones that came before, the Old OnesRegistered Userregular

Yeah, they REALLY need to get off their asses and re-release Blast Corps. And JFG. Either on Live, or VC, whoever has the damn copyrights.

Sadly though, I reckon there's 2 reasons why we haven't, and probably will never see them, neither of them good. Either the whole copyright litigation on them is simply too thick... or none of the companies involved think very highly of the games to bother with a release.

"The sausage of Green Earth explodes with flavor like the cannon of culinary delight."
PSN: TheWolfman64 3DS/Pokemon Y: 0774-4614-4065/NNID: the_wolfman64

The only reason GoldenEye was held up so long is because the Bond license is held by Activision

No, the Banjo games and Perfect Dark were published by Rare.
With Goldeneye XBLA, they'd reached a deal with Activision. It was Nintendo who killed it.

Actually, on a cursory Wikipedia glance, both Banjo-Kazooie/Tooie and Perfect Dark were published by Nintendo. The reason they can be on Live is because when Rare split, they took full control of both series with them. While Nintendo got basically all of the Donkey Kong stuff.

The million dollar question though, is where do the other games fall? Nobody seems to ever have a clear answer on that.

"The sausage of Green Earth explodes with flavor like the cannon of culinary delight."
PSN: TheWolfman64 3DS/Pokemon Y: 0774-4614-4065/NNID: the_wolfman64

Rare's redesigned website now has a countdown clock on it, which is set to end the same day Microsoft has scheduled its media briefing. Not much is revealed on the teaser website, only the phrase "One in a million," which suggests this could be related to Xbox Live.

The only reason GoldenEye was held up so long is because the Bond license is held by Activision

No, the Banjo games and Perfect Dark were published by Rare.
With Goldeneye XBLA, they'd reached a deal with Activision. It was Nintendo who killed it.

Actually, on a cursory Wikipedia glance, both Banjo-Kazooie/Tooie and Perfect Dark were published by Nintendo. The reason they can be on Live is because when Rare split, they took full control of both series with them. While Nintendo got basically all of the Donkey Kong stuff.

The million dollar question though, is where do the other games fall? Nobody seems to ever have a clear answer on that.

The Wikipedia page has Rare down as a publisher.
If it were just about who owned the properties, they'd only have to strike a deal with Activision, who would basically get free money from it, and who was on board.

0·

UnbreakableVowWe know we weren't the first ones here.Our stories speak of ones that came before, the Old OnesRegistered Userregular

Rare's redesigned website now has a countdown clock on it, which is set to end the same day Microsoft has scheduled its media briefing. Not much is revealed on the teaser website, only the phrase "One in a million," which suggests this could be related to Xbox Live.

I think it has less to do to being with the times and moreso with needing to get Brosnan's likeness.

They could have gone with a kind of generic, Brosnan-ish look alike Bond like EA did for their first game with the license, Agent Under Fire, before actually getting Brosnan's likeness for their subsequent ones. Since Craig's "the man" for the forseeable future, I'm guessing (but not certain) that Acti would be obligated to use his likeness for any Bond-related games, if only to have it as a marketing point, but if they're planning to retroactively put him into Goldeneye (if this does pan out), it'd just be weird. Cosmically weird. Like, "recasting John Goodman for Marlon Brando's role in Apocalypse Now" weird.

Oh my god. Is that guy still there? The man who wrote Scribes and Uncle Tusk back in the golden age? He was an utter legend.

Yep. Even as of a few months ago he was still spewing his glorious cheeky/abusive British dry wit all over the site. Microsoft's newfound Rare focus on Natal/Avatars makes me fear that they'll force the company to get rid of him, or at least tone him down.

The first DKC game just feels so sterile and unfun when I play it now.
Went back to DKC2 for the first time in a few years the other day and discovered its far easier when you aren't trying to make awful commentary simultaneously.

I can't believe no one here liked Viva Pinata. I don't even like sim games, and I loooooved Viva Pinata.

I bought Nuts n Bolts from a bargain bin recently, haven't tried it out yet, been too addicted to Brutal Legend which I picked up from the same bin.

Rare hasn't mattered to me in a long long time. Viva Pinata was a super pleasant surprise, and I am optimistic about Nuts and Bolts.

I think Viva Pinata was decently popular around here at the time.

Quick, somebody dig up the "awsomesheep" pic from a while back!:P

VP isn't really my thing, but damn if it wasn't a clever stab at the "sim" type games - raising pinatas for use at parties and creating a whole ecosystem of them with predatory and symbiotic ones is a pleasantly surreal idea.

1) Microsoft already owned the majority share at that point
2) Rare only accounted for <1% of their income over the past year.
3) 375 million dollars pays for a lot of games and R&D.

Not to mention how many key staff had recently left the company.

Recently? Is there a source on that? I hadn't heard. Then again I'm not omniscient.

Ah, $375 million. Even if we include the "value added" stuff of the Avatars, they still have a loooooong way to go before they earn that money back. Hell, the debt is probably greater now.

Just for fun let's go over the games they released in the Microsoft era and guesstimate how they did:

Grabbed by the Ghoulies. Sold horribly. Lost money.
Conker Live. Sold weakly, though much of it was re-used design. Hard to tell, maybe broke even.
DK Country 1-3 on the GBA (reprogrammed by Rare). Did well, though Microsoft likely didn't see much of that money.
Perfect Dark Zero. Sold pretty well due to being the "it" launch title, but was in development for an eternity. Probably broke even.
Kameo. In development for an eternity and sold horribly. Money pit.
Viva Pinata. Became a modest success, but that was due to a Herculean push that include a quick drop to $20, two seasons of an animated series, etc. Broke even at best.
Jetpac Refueled. No idea on cost or sales. Probably had negligible effects either way.
Banjo Live re-releases. Easy conversions, sold pretty well. Made some money.
Banjo Nuts and Bolts. Ludicrously long dev time, two previous versions canned and redone, weak sales. Huge money loser.
Viva Pinata 2. Sold about as bad as Guitar Hero: Van Halen. Big loss.
Perfect Dark re-releases. Seem to be doing well, will probably earn some money.

Yeah, because the company is so worthless and performed so badly that Microsoft decided they'd punish them by expanding them to a second location and creating around 120 new jobs... Clearly, Rare is doing something right, especially as Microsoft have spent the last two years closing down perfectly solid studios, from FASA to Ensemble.

Yeah, because the company is so worthless and performed so badly that Microsoft decided they'd punish them by expanding them to a second location and creating around 120 new jobs... Clearly, Rare is doing something right, especially as Microsoft have spent the last two years closing down perfectly solid studios, from FASA to Ensemble.

That's because they're pretty much the only first party Microsoft hasn't jettisoned yet besides Lionhead. Probably because Microsoft is determined to get a return off their investment if it kills them. Also they're guessing Rare's skillset will translate well to Natal, which isn't a bad idea.

Edit: And Tubular, if we're talking about toward the end of PDZ's development, then I had heard that reports of massive staff departures during that time were greatly exaggerated.

Yeah, because the company is so worthless and performed so badly that Microsoft decided they'd punish them by expanding them to a second location and creating around 120 new jobs... Clearly, Rare is doing something right, especially as Microsoft have spent the last two years closing down perfectly solid studios, from FASA to Ensemble.

That's because they're pretty much the only first party Microsoft hasn't jettisoned yet besides Lionhead. Also they're guessing their skillset will translate well to Natal, which isn't a bad idea.

Edit: And Tubular, if we're talking about toward the end of PDZ's development, then I had heard that reports of massive staff departures during that time were greatly exaggerated.

No, it was more towards the end of the original PD's development. At least from what I've heard, that's when a bunch of staff left to go form Free Radical, and some company that I don't think ever actually released anything.

Yeah, because the company is so worthless and performed so badly that Microsoft decided they'd punish them by expanding them to a second location and creating around 120 new jobs... Clearly, Rare is doing something right, especially as Microsoft have spent the last two years closing down perfectly solid studios, from FASA to Ensemble.

That's because they're pretty much the only first party Microsoft hasn't jettisoned yet besides Lionhead. Also they're guessing their skillset will translate well to Natal, which isn't a bad idea.

Edit: And Tubular, if we're talking about toward the end of PDZ's development, then I had heard that reports of massive staff departures during that time were greatly exaggerated.

No, it was more towards the end of the original PD's development. At least from what I've heard, that's when a bunch of staff left to go form Free Radical, and some company that I don't think ever actually released anything.

Right, I remember that. Those departures were a decent chunk but weren't anywhere close to being a majority of the staff, or even half.

Did anyone else follow all the incredible amount of work hackers went through to find the "Secret" to stop n' swap. That shit was insane but turned up some interesting stuff.
For those who are unaware there are secret items in BK related to something called stop n swap. If you got all 100 jiggies you'd get a secret video where mumbo would show off 2 colored eggs and a key made of ice in various locations in the game that you couldn't reach. He said that things you'd do in the sequel would allow you to access those areas and those items. However in Banjo-Tooie you just ending up finding them hidden in various places.

The original plan involved the original technical specs of the N64. When the N64 was released the ram in the system would retain its memory for 10-15 seconds. Rares idea was you'd shut off the system after selecting a specific option and then switch the two games and that hooks in the data in the memory would be able to alter the cartridge's save files and allow whatever changes they had for stop and swap to work.
However this plan fell through due to Nintendo changing the type of memory used in the N64 as well as worries of what the data in memory might due to other games. The fact that it was canceled after BKs release led to an interesting contrast in how the data on the cartridge's is arranged. With Banjo Kazooie everything is increibly ordered and placed in a logical way which also allowed all those hackers to do their work. HOWEVER in Banjo Tooie they obfuscated all the data when it came time to release since no other software would need to go in and read the cartridge besides the console.

Now some more interesting stuff behind this

DK64 was released between BK and BT and I believe overlapped with the first in development. Hackers discovered that in the games rom there is a data flag labeled Ice Key that until the game reaches the main menu for the first time is set to 0. Afterwards it gets flipped to one. There is no other referance to it in the code and when forced into the menu shows up as a DK coin. There was also an empty room in the crystal caverns that was sealed off with a transparent wall that looks different from everything else in the level.
Speculation is that while they probably didn't intend to implement Stop and Swap in DK64 they used it to actually test it before full development of Banjo Tooie went underway.

And finally in Banjo-Tooie there is a dummied out multiplayer mode called Bottle's Revenge which involved an evil demon bottles (who face portrait is still used in the end of game quiz) being controlled by player 2 and you could possess the enemy clsoest to banjo and control it. The original plan was to include bosses as well but when the feature got cut they'd only implemented the Boss control for the King Coal boss fight. If you use gameshark codes its still there fully playable and relatively bug free though the camera ignores the enemy being controlled, but none of the boss fight s are available and bottles just says a snarky comment as you enter a boss room. Its still intact on the XBLA version so if you can edit the game you can still play that mode.

Tl:dr DK64 was used to test the original Stop and swap. There was a dummied out mode for multiplayer in BT.

Lemmings was pro-Communist propeganda. All are created equal, sorted into specific jobs and roles that they will hold for the rest of their lives by a higher authority, and must sacrifice continuously for the good of the group. Success is measured by meeting quotas and nothing else. Also, nuclear holocaust.

Yeah, because the company is so worthless and performed so badly that Microsoft decided they'd punish them by expanding them to a second location and creating around 120 new jobs... Clearly, Rare is doing something right, especially as Microsoft have spent the last two years closing down perfectly solid studios, from FASA to Ensemble.

No, this is pretty much due MS reusing Rare's offices as their "Microsoft UK" development house. Rare is just a brand name now, they don't even own their own IPs anymore - Microsoft actually transferred all of them to be under their own name. This is not really a bad thing mind, but they sure didn't get expanded due to runaway success.

Also it's been quoted in numerous interviews that Ensemble actually closed themselves. They were tired of only being greenlit for RTSes.

Yeah, because the company is so worthless and performed so badly that Microsoft decided they'd punish them by expanding them to a second location and creating around 120 new jobs... Clearly, Rare is doing something right, especially as Microsoft have spent the last two years closing down perfectly solid studios, from FASA to Ensemble.

That's because they're pretty much the only first party Microsoft hasn't jettisoned yet besides Lionhead. Also they're guessing their skillset will translate well to Natal, which isn't a bad idea.

Edit: And Tubular, if we're talking about toward the end of PDZ's development, then I had heard that reports of massive staff departures during that time were greatly exaggerated.

No, it was more towards the end of the original PD's development. At least from what I've heard, that's when a bunch of staff left to go form Free Radical, and some company that I don't think ever actually released anything.

Right, I remember that. Those departures were a decent chunk but weren't anywhere close to being a majority of the staff, or even half.

It's true that is wasn't necessarily a large number of their staff, but the ones who did leave were easily some of their best people.